The president of the Norwegian football association demanded an official explanation after a United States player's red card was suspended following a Trump phone call.
The red card was arbitrarily suspended ahead of a key match between the United States and Belgium. Donald Trump did not hide the political phone call. He was proud of it and spoke about it to the whole world. The Norwegian football association president rejected comfortable silence to demand an inquiry into the bending of rules and the manipulation of the team lineup.
Tomasz Tadeusz Koncewicz, a law professor at the University of Gdansk, said the situation showed that managing modern sport has nothing to do with autonomy. He said the concept of autonomy has become a screen for a lack of transparency, cunning and comfortable lives for officials, pointing to cynical hydration breaks that he said benefit sponsors over players.
Shield against external oversight
Koncewicz pointed to scandals, corruption, arrogance and hypocrisy in sports management. He highlighted the relationship between officials and autocrats, citing the Sochi Olympic Games, the football World Cup in Qatar, and the relationship between Trump and FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
He said the concept of organizational autonomy for federations like FIFA, UEFA and the International Olympic Committee has become a catchphrase. In the name of sports specificity, organizations claim the privilege of self regulation and setting rules for participation in domestic and international competitions.
In Poland, Koncewicz said every scandal shaking domestic football resulted in the sport becoming a hostage to officials. He said officials used the argument that there is no football without the Polish Football Association, UEFA or FIFA. Any attempt to cure Polish football ended with blackmail and threats to exclude Polish clubs and the national team from competitions.
Koncewicz said federations use autonomy to exclude external control, which they see as unacceptable interference. This turns national and international sports organizations into laboratories for corruption and shady business.
Court challenges to UEFA and FIFA
The Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg has successfully challenged arguments from FIFA and UEFA regarding their impunity. Koncewicz said the governing bodies lose case after case in court, exposing that the emperor has no clothes.
In a December 21, 2023, ruling regarding the European Superleague Company, the court stated that the powers of FIFA and UEFA are not subject to criteria ensuring transparent, objective, non discriminatory and proportionate actions. The court found that FIFA and UEFA are therefore abusing a dominant position.
The court also ruled that FIFA and UEFA rules on authorizations, controls and sanctions are an unjustified restriction on the freedom to provide services because of their arbitrary nature.
Koncewicz said the European Union law provides a priceless guide. He urged the public, European Union member states, institutions and sponsors to stop giving in to the dictates of those who have little to do with sport as an idea.
Calls for sports accountability
The 2007 European Commission White Paper on Sport highlighted the importance of good governance to promote democratic, ethical and responsible sports activities. The UNESCO Charter also encourages public authorities and sports organizations to cooperate and clearly define their functions and responsibilities.
Koncewicz said true autonomy means finding a compromise between allowing sport to do things its own way and the obligation to follow legal principles. He said autonomy must result from a difficult dialogue between sport and its legal and social environment, rather than a monologue.
He said good governance must be seen as a way to earn autonomy, rather than an automatic privilege. Federations that betray standards of legality and honesty risk losing their autonomy and facing external supervision.
The social, cultural and educational power of sport is being sacrificed for ruthless business aimed at profit at all costs, Koncewicz said. He added that big business remains blind to the values of integration, respect and decency as long as the financial accounts add up.
Future of sports integrity
Koncewicz warned that the Trump phone call must become a symbolic call for a public accounting of what has been done to sport. He said if people remain silent now, such phone calls will become the norm.
The culture of corruption and lack of responsibility can no longer be tolerated, he said, because the future of sport and emotions are at stake. Koncewicz said the public can no longer accept a situation filled with cynicism, cliques and islands of irresponsibility, where unrestricted autonomy has become a caricature of itself.
Koncewicz is the head of the Department of European Law and Comparative Legal Studies at the University of Gdansk and a member of the Editorial Board of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Law. He also sits on the Board of the Fondation Jean Monnet pour l'Europe in Lausanne.
